Next Saturday, 18th of October 2014, an unbelievably disappointing Borussia Dortmund will measure forces with Köln at the RheinEnergieStadion for round eight of the Bundesliga, on a match of vital importance for the visitors as they’ve only managed to collect seven points from seven matches so far this season, something that is clearly not suitable for a team of their calibre.

The former European champions, Borussia Dortmund, have been truly unrecognizable so far this season, with four defeats in seven matches for the Bundesliga. Last round, they were defeated at home by an Hamburger SV that, before the match, were at the bottom of the table with just two points in six matches.

In contrast to their disappointing domestic campaign, their performances at the UEFA Champions League have been quite good, where they have already snatched six points in two matches. A convincing home win over Arsenal and an away triumph over Anderlecht should have been enough to motivate the team, but so far they have not yet found their way.

Once again this season, Dortmund have been struck down by injuries and that fact might also help explain why the team is currently underachieving. The departure of the Polish sharpshooter Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich last Summer might also be one of the reasons behind the team’s modest scoring sheet at the Bundesliga so far.

Jürgen Kloop has a Herculean task ahead of him and he will need to work hard in order to restore the team’s motivation levels. For the complicated match against Köln next weekend, the German charismatic manager will still not be able to rely on the contribution of Mkhitaryan

Blaszczykowski. Kirch, Gundogan, Alomerovic, Sahin and Reus, all sidelined due to injury.

As for Köln, they have also been experiencing some difficulties on their return to the German top flight this season, as they have only managed to snatch one win over the course of seven matches so far and are currently one point behind their next Saturday’s opponents.

After being coronated 2. Bundesliga champions last season, the historical German team even had a good start at the league this season, as they remained unbeaten for the first four matches. Notwithstanding, a defeat at Hannover marked the beginning of a poor run of matches of four consecutive defeats.

Despite their modest campaign so far, Dortmund are firm favourites for next Saturday’s match, although from what we have already seen this season, it would not come as surprise if Köln managed to win the match.

Köln

Stats: W-0 L-4 D-1

Recent Form - LLLLD

Borussia Dortmund

Stats: W-1 L-3 D-1

Recent Form - LWLDL

Possible Line-ups

Köln (4-2-3-1) - Horn - Olkowski - Maroh - Wimmer - Hector - Vogt - Lehmann - Halfar - Osako - Risse - Zoller

Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1) - Weidenfeller - Schmelzer - Subotic - Sokratis - Erik Durm - Kehl - Jojic - Bender - Kagawa - Aubameyang - Immobile

Prediction

Köln 1 Borussia Dortmund 2